FEAST Beef group presentation
BY
DR. SOLOMON MENGISTU
ADDISU ABERA
SOLOMON ABEYI
FANTAHUN DEREJE
Introduction
 Name of Kebele:






Godino
Name of Woreda:
Ada’a
Country:
Ethiopia
Number of participants: 5 (males=4, females=1)
Date:
March 14, 2012
Start time: 10:50 am Finishing time: 1:45 pm
Total time taken = 2:55hrs
Description of the farming system
 The average farm size = 2ha or 8 kert; [1ha= 4 kert]
 The typical (or average) household size? 5 persons
 The rainfall pattern vary over a years 0-5, where 5 =
heavy rainfall levels and 0=no rainfall)?




Heavy RF
Medium RF
Small RF
No RF
= July and August
= June and September
= April, May and October
= November through March
 There are two cropping seasons
 Kiremet:
June - July, August & September
 Bega:
October - May
 Most of the area is suitable for irrigation
 About 65% of the HH are using irrigation
Average area per household (hectares)
Average area (ha) per household of dominant arable
crops
0.60
0.50
0.40
0.30
0.20
0.10
0.00
Wheat (Triticum Tef (Eragrostis tef)
aestivum)
4
Bean
Lentils (Lens
esculenta)
Availability of labour
 There is shortage of labour due to seasonality of the work





load
When is it most required? During October to January
which is the main cropping season
Price of (daily-paid) labour : between 45 to 50 birr/ day
Labour is highly demanded & very expensive during the
cropping season
Some Agricultural inputs: Credit & land are not readily
available
Other Agricultural inputs : urea, plastic sheeting, irrigation
equipment's are not readily available in the local market so
farmers are forced to search for them at big towns
Types of Livestock raised in the area
Livestock species
Use
% of HH
that own
the species.
Average
number of
animals per
HH
Local Dairy cows
Mal calf, milk, manure
90
2
Improved dairy
cows
Milk for sale, calf, manure,
10
1
Draught cattle
Draught, threshing, transport
wood
90
2
Fattening cattle
To fiche more money for oxen
replacement
10
1
Sheep
For sale, meat
75
3
Goats
For sale, meat
65
4
Poultry – village
For sale, for egg & meat
90
5
Poultry –
commercial
For sale, for egg & meat
15
2
Horse
Cart & saddle transport
5
1
Donkeys
Pack agricultural goods, fetch
water, thresh crops
6
95
1
Average livestock holdings (number of head) per household
based on wealth
18
16
14
12
10
8
6
4
2
0
Poultry village
conditions
Goats
Donkeys
Local Dairy Improved Improved
Bulls or
Local Dairy
cows - non Dairy calves dairy cows – castrated
calves
(<6mths
lactating male cattle ( (<6mths
lactating
old) – male
old) –
(dry)
> 2 year)
female
7
Management of livestock
 Housing – separate housing, rarely in coral
 Feeding of cattle (stall fed, tethered, open grazing) – open




grazing dominant for local & stall feeding for cross breed
lactating.
Feed processing (chopping, urea treatment, mixing etc.)Combination of all.
The veterinary services are there but the service is not
adequate in most of the cases it is difficult to get drugs; the
prophylactic method is not applicable. More over, the cost
of treating animals is unaffordable by farmers.
With regard to methods of livestock reproduction: AI &
natural mating is being practiced.
However, the availability of AI – service is very problematic;
also the rate of repeat services – 2 to 3 times per
conception. Farmers are resort to cross bred bull services
Maize (Zea mays) cracked grains,
100.00
Molasses, 240.00
Noug (Guizotia
abyssinica) - cake,
1,200.00
Wheat (Triticum
aestivum) - bran,
2,400.00
Quantity of feed purchased over a 12mth period
9
The summary of farmers’ view, identified problems & solutions
Main problems
Problem 1
Availability of feed
Solution
Produce by their own, procure the deficit from other sources
Problem 2
Veterinary services
Solution
Provision of the service by the public & privet
Problem 3
Lack of improved animal breed
Solution
Produce from own herd
Problem 4
Shortage of AI services
Solution
Provision of the service by the public & privet technician
Problem 5
Lack of technical knowledge
Solution
Provision of the capacity building by extension agents
10
Complete pair-wise comparisons of these problems
Comparison
Which problem is more Important to
farmers?
Problem 1 v Problem 2
1
Problem 1 v Problem 3
1
Problem 1 v Problem 4
1
Problem 1 v Problem 5
1
Problem 2 v Problem 3
2
Problem 2 v Problem 4
4
Problem 2 v Problem 5
2
Problem 3 v Problem 4
3
Problem 3 v Problem 5
3
Problem 4 v Problem 5
4
11
Number of times
the problem was
considered the
most important
Problem
1
Problem
2
Problem
3
Problem
4
Problem
5
4
2
2
2
0
Summary of the observation:
o
Feed is the most critical problem affecting livestock production as
farmers notified it,
12